GOP gubernatorial nominee Bruce Rauner frequently has said he "has no social agenda" on hot button issues such as gay marriage and abortion, even emphasizing through his wife, Diana Rauner, that he in fact is pro-choice. But in the final days of his campaign, his money is saying something else.

In the past 24 hours, Rauner-funded flyers and robocalls have surfaced that savage another candidate for governor, Libertarian Chad Grimm, for backing same-sex marriage and legal abortion. Republican insiders fear Mr. Grimm's small-government message is playing well in conservative sections of the state and could take away votes that otherwise would go to Mr. Rauner.

"Libertarian Chad Grimm's party supports gay marriage," says the flier, which was passed on to me by a Burr Ridge resident who got it in the mail yesterday. A similar phone message that also was forwarded to me says, "His party's 100 percent pro-choice."

Both the flyer and the calls were paid for by the Illinois Republican Party.

"This is not a Bruce Rauner mail piece," said a spokesman, later extending his comment to cover the robocall after I emailed him a copy. "Bruce doesn't have a social agenda — he's pro-choice, comfortable with the existing marriage law and doesn't seek to change it."

In recent weeks, both of the Rauners have been increasingly strong in their statements that the candidate will not pursue a social-issues agenda if he is elected, especially on abortion, a key issue with the suburban women that the campaigns of both Mr. Rauner and Democratic incumbent Pat Quinn have struggled to win over.

CONSERVATIVE CONCERNS

"Bruce has been very, very clear that he's pro-choice, that he values the laws in place and will do everything he can to protect women's rights," Ms. Rauner told the Tribune only yesterday.

Given such statements, sending out a flier that rips Mr. Grimm for taking the same position is "disingenuous," said John Atkinson, a former congressional hopeful and a registered Democrat, who sent me a copy of the flier.

But the flier could help ease concerns of some downstate Republicans that the Rauners' increasingly assertive statements about abortion are costing him votes there.

The flier and robocall both also suggest that Mr. Grimm has backing from groups that often tilt Democratic, such as the operating engineers union, and that he in fact is "a Democratic agent."

Photo

Photo from the Chad Grimm for Illinois Facebook page

Chad Grimm

Mr. Grimm was not available for comment, but Libertarians frequently have fielded candidates for governor in recent decades.

I have not yet contacted pro-choice and gay-rights groups for comment, but suspect they will have a few thoughts that I will add later.

The state Republican Party declined to say how widely the flier and robocall are being distributed. In a statement, the party said: "Pat Quinn's allies are desperate to save him, so they've resorted to political tricks. A brand new committee, with an intentionally misleading name, two weeks before the election, spending $330k to siphon off support from Bruce Rauner. The same groups have given $1.3 million to Quinn already. It's obvious what their real purpose is. We couldn't let their misleading message go unanswered."

Mr. Quinn's spokeswoman said, "Just days before the election, Republican billionaire Bruce Rauner's true colors are showing — he really does oppose a woman's right to choose and equal marriage rights. Mr. Rauner cannot be trusted to look out for women's reproductive freedom and equal marriage rights when in fact he's spending millions of dollars attacking those freedoms."

Update, 1:15 p.m. — The Quinn people are jumping all over the news, scheduling an afternoon press conference with Mr. Quinn's running mate for lieutenant governor, Paul Vallas, at the offices of Personal PAC, an abortion rights group which has strongly supported Mr. Quinn.

Says Executive Director Terry Cosgrove in an email, "If Bruce Rauner has 'no social agenda,' then why is he and the Republican Party he has supported with millions of dollars in contributions this year whipping up anti-abortion sentiments outside Chicago? Whether a voter is pro-choice or thinks abortion should be illegal, someone like Bruce Rauner who can't be straightforward with voters is not deserving of anyone's vote, regardless of political party or views."

Meanwhile, more reaction, this time from Bernard Cherkasov, executive director of Equality Illinois, a leading gay-rights group:

"This is just the latest evidence of Bruce Rauner showing his real conservative social agenda and his opposition to marriage equality for same-sex couples. It is condemnable and unsurprising at the same time. We've exposed his repeated statements against marriage equality when he thought he was only speaking to conservative audiences. Now, there is one more direct evidence of Bruce Rauner money funding an anti-marriage equality mailer It is clear for all that Bruce Rauner has no moral compass, and will say anything to win, and that makes him unqualified to be governor of the Land of Abraham Lincoln."

Update, 4:10 p.m. —Team Rauner continues to deny it had anything at all to do with the ad, but the flyer and robocalls apparently are wrong in one key regard: On his FaceBook page, Mr. Grimm, who hasn't been available for comment, says he's actually against abortion, and cites a Oct. 24 Chicago Sun-Times story to that effect.